Martha Teferra Mekonnen plays a very special and rare type of Ethopian music: the "Krar-Chawatah" (Krar playing).

The daughter of the famous pianist Teferra Mekonnen was born in Addis Abeba in 1972 where she visited the Yared Music School and studying Krar was part of her education.

From 2005 to 2009, she had a lot of concerts in front of a large audience in Addis Abeba. Since June 2010, she is living in Berlin where she performed at the Karneval der Kulturen. In Cologne, she played at events of the DAESAV, German-Ethopian Union of students and graduates.

Her big idol is the Ethopian artist Asnaketch Worku who was the first woman and actress who performed on a theatre stage in Addis Abeba. Since then female characters had always been played by male actors. Later she mainly concentrated on Krar playing.

The instrument Krar origin lies in the region of the Amhara and the Tigray. To European ears an amazing, mystic world of sounds emerges when you are listing to the Krar playing which uses four different scales with five tones respectively. The Krar player faces only one problem that for changing the scale the whole instrument needs to be tuned. In Ethiopia it is custom that during those so forced breaks the audience, while discussing the lyrics of the songs being sung at length, is served coffee, Tejj and Tlla.

The Krar The lyre of the Amhara and Tigray 6 strings, 4 scales: Tizita, Bati, Anchi, Hoye Lene and Ambassel

Tizita the first of the four five-tone-scales Tizita means to gain courage to live from past experiences. One could expect that in this form the lyrics dictate the tune.

Bati the second of the four five-tone-scales Bati is the sound of a place by the same name situated in the central Ethiopian highlands.

Anchi Hoye Lene The third of the four five-tone-scales

Ambassel The fourth of the four five-tone-scales Ambassel is also the sound of another place in the central Ethiopian highlands by the same name.